TOEFL speaking section general tips

This could be the most nerve wracking part of the test for you. Here is how you can prepare and what you can do during those twenty minutes or so.

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General

1. Relax. This is the most important thing. You won’t be able to show your true level if you are nervous.

2. Show your range of language. If you don’t show him, he won’t know!

3. Keep to the truth. Don’t make stuff up. You might run into trouble somewhere.

4. Make it interesting. Make the guy want to listen to you.

5. Use a wide range of words. Collect vocabulary. Make word webs. Make categorized xl lists. Don’t use short boring words (good/bad/happy/sad), use descriptive words and phrases (fantastic/awful/ecstatic/depressed)

6. Don’t give too simple answers – show off with different tenses. “I live in Taipei. I have lived here for 5 years. I moved here in 2003.”

7. Use clauses. “The food that I like the most is curry.”

8. It sentences. “It rains a lot in Taipei” “It’s boring to stay home and watch TV”

9. Plurals. Don’t forget to add the s or es

10. Subject-verb agreement.

11. Watch out for Chinese English.

12. Use phrase verbs and idioms. But be careful with the idioms.

13. Linking devices. Within sentences and between sentences.

14. Conditionals. If you need a high score, you’ll need to use a variety of these.

15. Correct yourself. If you realize that you have said somethig wrong, use conversational phrases like “No, what I mean is . . .” “I should have said . . .” “What I meant to say was . . .”

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Independent Tasks

Two independent speaking questions—where students give their opinion on a familiar topic.

Question 1

State a personal preference. This question asks the test-taker to express and defend a personal choice from a given category—for example, important people, places, events or activities that the test taker enjoys. Or, more generally, speak about a topic that is familiar to you.

Preparation time: 15 seconds. Response time: 45 seconds.

Question 2

This question asks the test-taker to give a personal opinion usually by making and defending a personal choice between two contrasting behaviors or courses of action.

Preparation time: 15 seconds Response time: 45 seconds.

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Independent Speaking Tips:

– Make a list of topics that are familiar, and practice speaking about them.
– Describe a familiar place or recount a personal experience. You can find a list of Questions here.
– Practice answering such questions every day. Use a recorder and listen back.
– Repeat repeat repeat. But make sure your answers are correct before memorizing things.

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Integrated Tasks

Four integrated speaking questions—where students talk for 60 seconds about written or spoken information.

Question 3

Read/Listen/Speak

– Situation: campus.
– Topic: fit and explain.
– A reading passage (75–100 words) presents a campus-related issue.
– A listening passage (60–80 seconds, 150–180 words) comments on the issue in the reading passage.
– The question asks the test taker to summarize the speaker’s opinion within the context of the reading passage.

Preparation time: 30 seconds. Response time: 60 seconds.

You must:
– Summarize a situation and an opinion about it.
– Explain the reason or the background.
– Connect the listening and reading passages.

Question 4

Read/Listen/Speak

– Situation: academic course.
– Topic: general/specific
– A reading passage (75–100 words) broadly defines a term, process, or idea from an academic subject.
– An excerpt from a lecture (60–90 seconds;150–220 words) provides examples and specific information to illustrate the term, process, or idea from the reading passage. Sometimes the speaker provides a contradictory point of view.
– The question asks the test taker to combine and convey important information from the reading passage and the lecture excerpt.

– Preparation time: 30 seconds. Response time: 60 seconds

Question 4 is the hardest part of the whole speaking section of the iBT TOEFL. It can be very intimidating, and hard to score well on.

You should
– Take notes for the reading section, but keep them brief and focus only on summarizing the main idea and a couple of the most important points.
– Divide your note-taking paper into two halves.
– Spread your notes about the reading down the left side.
– Then when you listen to the lecture, you can space the more detailed notes for this part down the right side. It will then be easier to see how information from the lecture correlates to main points from the reading passage.

In your answer, you must:
– first summarize the overall topic for both reading and listening, and state how they relate to each other overall (very important).
– Be ready for one of these two eventualities, right from the start: The listening will always either (a) agree with the points in the reading but extend it into some sort of specific application or example, or (b) disagree with and challenge the points made in the reading.
– Not speak too much about the reading passage.
– Focus most of your initial reporting on the lecture, and refer each main point from it back to a central idea from the reading.

Here are some expressions/guidelines to use:
[The lecture extends/elaborates on something from the reading]
“The lecturer tells us that ... / ... / ..., and this relates to what was said in the reading passage about ...”
“In addition, we also hear that ... / ... / ..., which extends the idea from the reading that ...”
“Also, in the lecture, a point is made about ... / ... / ..., which in turn gives us a better idea about ... / ... / ... from the reading passage.”

[The lecture refutes something from the reading]
“The lecturer tells us that ... / ... / ... and this refutes what was said in the reading passage about ...”
“In addition, we also hear that ... / ... / ..., which contrasts with what the reading explains in terms of ...”
“Also, in the lecture, a point is made about ... / ... / ..., whereas the reading passage's take on this is that ...”

It's worth coming up with some framing chunks like these and memorizing them by heart so that they flow naturally for you during the test. Then all you need to do is concentrate on getting down and organizing the important information.

Question 5

Listen/Speak

– Situation: campus.
– Topic: problem/solution
– The listening passage (60–90 seconds; 180–220 words) is a conversation about a student-related problem and two possible solutions.
– The question asks the test taker to demonstrate an understanding of the problem and to express an opinion about solving the problem.

Preparation time: 20 seconds Response time: 60 seconds.

Question 6

Listen/Speak

– Situation: academic course.
– Topic: summary.
– The listening passage is an excerpt from a lecture (90–120 seconds; 230–280 words) that explains a term or concept and gives concrete examples to illustrate that term or concept.
– The question asks the test taker to summarize the lecture and demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the examples and the overall topic.

Preparation time: 20 seconds. Response time: 60 seconds

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Integrated Speaking Tips:

In the Exam:
– Always take notes
– Speak for the whole time.
– Read the notes when speaking.
– Orally summarize the information in both the written and spoken materials. Be sure to paraphrase using different words and grammatical structures.
– Orally synthesize the material by combining the information from the reading and listening materials and explain how they relate.
– State an opinion about the ideas and information presented in the reading and listening material and explain how they relate.
– If the reading and/or listening material describes a problem, suggest and explain a solution to the problem.
– Recognize the attitude of the speaker or the writer of the original material through intonation, stress, and word choice. This helps to understand their point of view and plan an appropriate response

Before the exam:
– Record yourself talking about a topic for a minute or two.
– Read a short article (100–200 words). Make an outline that includes only the major points of the article. Use the outline to orally summarize the information.
– Find listening and reading material on the same topic covered by the article. The material can contain similar or different views. (The Internet and the library are good places to find information.)
– Take notes or create outlines on the listening and reading material.

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Assessment

Raters listen for the following features in test taker responses:

Delivery: How clear was the speech?
Good responses are fluid and clear, with good pronunciation, natural pacing, and natural-sounding intonation patterns.

Language use: How effectively does the test taker use grammar and vocabulary to convey their ideas?
Raters determine the test taker’s ability to control both basic and more complex language structures, and use appropriate vocabulary.

Topic development: How fully do test takers answer the question and how coherently do they present their ideas?
How well did the test taker synthesize and summarize the information in the integrated tasks? Good responses generally use all or most of the time allotted, and the relationship between ideas and the progression from one idea to the next is clear and easy to follow.
It is important to note that raters do not expect test takers’ responses to be perfect.
Even high-scoring responses may contain occasional errors and minor problems in any of the three areas described above.

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All Speaking Tasks

– Increase vocabulary and learn to use idiomatic speech appropriately.
– Learn grammatical structures and use them naturally when speaking.
– Work on pronunciation, including word stress, intonation patterns, and pauses. (There are a number of products and websites that can help you develop pronunciation skills.)
– When practicing for the TOEFL iBT using the tips above, take 15 seconds to think about what you’re going to say before you speak. Write down a few key words and ideas, but do not attempt to write down exactly what you are going to say. (Raters will be able to detect responses that are read and give them a lower rating.)
– Use signal words and expressions to introduce new information or ideas, to connect ideas, and to mark important words or ideas. This will help the listener easily follow what you are saying. (For example, “on the one hand…,” “but on the other hand…,” “what that means is…,” “The first reason is…,” “another difference is…”)
– Make recordings of the above activities and evaluate your effort by asking yourself these questions:

– Did I complete the task? I.e. did the talk answers the topic question.
– Did I speak clearly? Pronunciation and fluency.
– Did I make grammatical errors?
– Did I use a wide range of vocabulary?
– Did I logically connect sentences to each other?
– Did I use words correctly?
– Did I organize my ideas clearly and appropriately? Speak directly?
– Did I use the time effectively? Was the talk within word-range?
– Did I speak too fast or too slowly? Pause too often?
– Did I make my point of view or position clear?
– Did I give details and examples to support the main idea?
– Did I expresses complete thoughts?
– Did I make the meaning easy for the listener to comprehend?

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